Originally Posted by pdstein

Sorry, I read the entire thread. I must have missed it. I suppose sponsored clicks would account for a considerable %, but 46%? That seems awfully high to me. Is there anything to support that theory? Is everyone else accepting that theory, or are there others who like me are skeptical of the 54% number?

im skeptical as well, not only this number, but also about the 'empty searches':

http://www.seo-portal.com/aol-data-a...ta/2006/08/17/

or did I miss out on the explanation of this one>?

I think a very large part of that 46% is rephrased searches.

Originally Posted by SEO Portal

im skeptical as well, not only this number, but also about the 'empty searches':

That is hard to explain... interesting.

Originally Posted by gopher292

I think a very large part of that 46% is rephrased searches.

Really? So, when you personally are searching for something about half your searches you look down the results, don't see what you're looking for, and search for a different phrase without ever clicking anything in the results?

I do that occassionally, but if I had to guestimate a number I would put it at less than 10%. And to counter that I would say at least 25% of the time when I search I will click through to more than one site in the results. So, I would put my click-through-rate at more than 100%, which is why I am so skeptical of the 54%.

Yeah but you have to understand you and I and the other people on this forum are VERY familiar with computers, search engines, and how to use them.

I, too, usually get what I'm looking for from a search engine with the first query, because I know how to phrase my queries properly. I also use advanced queries, like quotation marks for phrases, and/or, hyphen for exclusion of terms (essentially equivalent to "not"), and even on google things like site: to narrow the search to a single site.

I also spell everything correctly the first time, because I am a very good speller.

But that doesn't mean everyone in the world follows the same pattern. I bet half of the 46% are from people searching only to realize they mispelled one of the key words in their query.

I always found that people use the AOL Search bar as a URL browser. Its just easy for them even if it is an additional click.

I agree with Elemak. In fact, aol users are often very inexperienced and non-tech savvy. (If they were they probably wouldn't use aol! )

pdstein: In the aol data, if somebody clicked more than one result on a page, it shows as multiple searches. E.g. if you searched for something, then clicked on two results on the first page, then went to the second page and didn't click anything, it would show as 3 searches, 2 of which resulted in clicks. You can filter out the multiple result clicks, but it would take a lot of extra work.

My guess at a breakdown of the 46%:
25%: Rephrased searches.
15%: Clicking to second or third pages without clicking on any results.
6%: Sponsored results clicks.

*misspelled

Great discussion...I think the data is good to learn from due to fact that AOL users tend to be shopping and family oriented. Not savvy about sponsored ads etc...